If you’ve ever considered doing business online or creating your own website, you may have wondered what web hosting is and whether you need a web host for a website. In most cases, the simple answer is “yes.” Few individuals or companies have the resources to set up and host their own websites. Having a website without a web host is a lot like owning a telephone without paying a phone company for telephone service.
What Exactly Is Web hosting
Web hosting is how your website becomes available for other people to view on the world wide web. In order for your beautifully designed website to become visible to others, you need a server and access to a stable internet infrastructure for continuous service. According to Netfronts, a web hosting company rents space on a serve to individuals and businesses with websites. When you rent this space, you have access to your website on a secure server from which you can update and make changes. Some webhosting plans come with extensive technical support while other plans provide little more than the server space for your website. Again, choosing a web host is much like choosing a telephone service provider. You can choose options for handling large quantities of data or options for simply maintaining a small website that sees little traffic.
The Type of Webhosting You Need
Several different types of web hosting are available. Obviously, an individual keeping up a small blog for personal use has different needs than an multi-billion-dollar international corporation that does business online. Although both of these parties need a web host for their website, they need web hosting for vastly different reasons. One has a website primarily for fun and entertainment purposes. The other has one or more websites for commercial purposes. While there are some webhosting companies that handle both private bloggers and Fortune 500 companies, most likely these two entities will choose different web hosts. Before choosing a web host, take the time to decide what the purpose of your website will be. Will you be sharing personal information with friends and family? Will you be selling product? Will you be providing entertainment, and if so, on what scale will you be doing this?
Related Resource: Virtual Private Server
Available Types of Web hosting
Once you have an idea of what you what to do with your website, you can start searching for a web host for your website. Many bloggers use a free web hosting service. These can be a good place to establish a blog or other online presence. Often the free hosting is supported by advertisements or has certain limitations compared to paid webhosting. Other types of web hosting include:
- Shared web hosting, where several websites share a single server
- Reseller web hosting, which allows you to actually become your own web host
- Dedicated hosting, through which you obtain full control over a web server that you rent
- Managed hosting, through which you obtain your own server but do not have full control over it
- Cloud hosting, which provides reliable, decentralized web hosting
Just like finding a good telephone service, it takes research to find the right web hosting service. You do need a web host for your website, and a wide range of options await you.
